Viewing page 130 of 479

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

3
aid them largely in thus doing. They at last made an offer for the house and lot where Mr. Colburn is teaching, the lot being owned by the Colored people. I do not know if the offer is accepted. If they are able to succeed with reasonable help in owning a suitable house and lot, I recommend that such help be rendered, but I would not ask that further aid be given to a school, which however good it may be is regarded as sectarian by a large portion of the Colored people of the place. I'd not think much energy is manifest in Parkersburg to receive the aid which the Bureau is willing to afford. There is too much prejudice to allow the easy execution of the School Saw according to its evident meaning. The same difficulty is found in other parts of the State, the members of the School board are afraid to do their duty, but the Colored people are finding that they have rights under the law, and they are disposed to assert them.
In the Kanawha Valley the people appear to be doing very well. Among the mines and salt-works they receive good wages, and some of them are securing homes. There are already seven (7) schools in operation in the valley, five of which are taught by Colored persons from Ohio. Most of these schools